Blog Preston received the photos seen here along with a message that said: “Apparently residents are fed up with local garages leaving cars/vans in their lay-bys for months, so they have nowhere to park.”

Sean Burt of Sean Burt Motor Repairs on Brook Street owns some of the vehicles that have been targeted. He said: “I’ve got CCTV footage of an old bloke who can hardly walk, spray-painting the vehicles at 8.30pm on Sunday, while people walk by. Someone has identified him as he has a very distinctive walk. Apparently he is a nice fella until he gets drunk, and then he comes out and vandalises my customers’ vehicles.”

Sean said he was also targeted by the same man before: “Last time he also slashed tyres and smashed windscreens. I took that as a warning, as I’d been parking vehicles on the road. I thought ‘I’ve annoyed the residents, I’m sorry’, and I haven’t parked there again.

“If residents now have a problem with the vehicles being parked in the lay-bys, why haven’t the Land Rovers been done? Why have they singled me out? Nobody has spoken to me about it. If you’ve got a problem, tell us and we’ll sort it, but this is pure vandalism.

“The vehicles are road taxed and legit, and anybody can park in those spaces. I struggle to fit all the vehicles in the workshop, but I’m going to have to try to find space. The vehicles are changing all the time. There are other vehicles that have been parked there for over six months and never moved, but they haven’t been vandalised.

“I got in touch with the police the first time it happened, but they didn’t do anything. I had to fix the damage out of my own pocket. It cost about £2,000. I’m not going to the police again. I’m going to find out exactly who is doing it and shame him. I’m going to put him all over Facebook. It’s wrong what he’s doing.”

A resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “It happened a few weeks ago, they did it to a van and two cars. I think it’s something to do with another garage. The spaces are theirs, they must pay for them or something. It doesn’t bother us that the garages park vehicles there, but the spaces are for these houses.”

Another resident said: “I’ve lived here for 16 years and workers have always parked here, but this spray-painting has only started happening lately. I don’t know who’s done it, but it appears overnight. I heard a rumour that someone got done for it.

“It’s someone who is sick of the garages parking in those spaces, as they are meant to be for people who live in these houses. When we first rented here, the houses belonged to the Council. We got told they’re our allocated spaces.”

A spokesperson for Preston Police said: “The officer from the Plungington Neighbourhood Policing Team is aware of three reports of criminal damage; two in June and one on 5 September.

“In relation to the damage in June, CCTV was obtained by a neighbouring business and circulated but the suspect was not identified. We’re unable to provide any information on the report from 5 September, as a victim has scheduled an appointment in the near future regarding the issue.

“In relation to the parking, we as the police only hold responsibility over obstructive or dangerous parking, and we’ve had no reports recently of parking issues of this nature in the Brook Street area. All other parking comes under the responsibilities of Lancashire Parking Services at County Hall, however looking at the photos there don’t appear to be any parking restrictions in place.”

Councillor Carl Crompton from the University ward said: “The issue has been raised before, and the response I received from officers was that as long as the vehicles were taxed/tested and insured they were entitled to park on the public highways.”

What do you think of where the garages park their vehicles, and this resident’s reaction? Let us know in the comments below.